Is equipment useless?

Games Sentinels of the Multiverse
21

IE isn't exactly completely reliable. For one, you have to draw it first, or impromptu invention. Secondly, on occasion you'll get the same 2 cards (last game I got 2 forced deployments!), though that could be fixed with a second IE and utility belt. Third, if citizen dawn flips, she'll be playing 2 cards every turn. Last time I played her, her second card draw was devastating aurora, and I did use IE on her the previous turn. And fourth, you'd obviously have to have a wraith in every game. Yes, IE helps a lot, but it's not 100% reliable. Oh, and that won't save you from a pervasive dust, or other environment cards that wreck havoc on you (I'm finding hostage situation to be particularly annoying, it might as well say 'villain and environment get an extra turn, if drawn early).

I did just try a game with wraith, trying to find an ideal 3-hero combination against baron blade. I didn't see her as ideal. The best line-up I've found so far seems to be visionary, tempest, and ra. Of course, last game had to be the ONE game where he didn't draw disruption (and he drew it as his first card the previous 2 games!). But from the looks of it, all three of these seem to rely on equipment and ongoings the least. Yeah, tempest kinda needs them, but he doesn't need a lot out, and he can easily recover even if they do all get blown up. Tachyon also technically doesn't use them much (she only has 3 different kinds her deck), but I haven't figured out the best way to use her yet. Her damage seems minimal to me, besides of course barrage. Mostly I just use her for utlity. To me, her most useful cards are blinding speed, synaptic responce, and that one that makes everyone unable to deal damage I forget the name (I normally remember cards more by the picture than the names).

And yeah, I've gotten into the habit of having back-up modules in hand when I play AZ. Besides, that one card that lets you tutor for them also gives you an card draw and an extra play, so why not use it?

22

You just have to play around those cards. That's just part of the larger strategy you need to keep in mind while going up against those villains. If you dumped your whole hand into the board right into one of 2 devestats from Dawn, yeah you're gonna have a bad time. 

Plan every turn as if you might see those board wipe cards and have a gameplan for when it happens. Those cards suck but they can be played around. Figuring out just how to do that is a big part of the whole game. 

23

True of every single card in every single deck. Not a unique issue for Wraith. She suffers less due to the commonality of the card in her deck vs. other deck searchers, and to my memory II is the only deck seracher that can pull a deck manipulator (IE) out of a deck. DW Visionary can do that with Innate, but that isn't available to me and many others, and DW Visionary cannot use the Innate and deal Power damage at the same time, as Wraith can.

Secondly, on occasion you'll get the same 2 cards (last game I got 2 forced deployments!), though that could be fixed with a second IE and utility belt.

That is actually a positive. You suffer it once, and know exactly where the second copy is and how long until it appears. IE has a side-effect of increasing the frequency of such cards appearing by doubling Villain deck draw rate, so one to trash and one to bottom means you know a long time is going to pass before you need to IE again, and you can see it coming as the deck depletes. Wraith can use other Powers until it gets close.

Third, if citizen dawn flips, she'll be playing 2 cards every turn.

Omnitron draws 2, Infinitor draws 2… It is still at 2/3 effectiveness in that situation (33% chance of suffering it, instead of 0%), so still better than not having it. You're looking for perfection, and you can make similar Villainous citations for other cards.

Oh, and that won't save you from a pervasive dust, or other environment cards that wreck havoc on you (I'm finding hostage situation to be particularly annoying,

I didn't say it would. Not sure why this is relevant. I don't think there is any Ongoing or Equipment card out there that will control both environment and Villain decks over multiple turns, so this is not a disadvantage vs. any alternatives, nor a reason not to use it against the Villain deck.

I did just try a game with wraith, trying to find an ideal 3-hero combination against baron blade.

Didn't say she was ideal vs. all decks. And no deck comes out 100% effective every game, so a single game test is not demonstrable of any strengths or weaknesses. The card you're avoiding here is Devious Destruction.

I didn't see her as ideal.

Define "ideal". Your need a sample space measured in dozens (maybe hundreds) of games for every combination of decks to have any Confidence Interval on a conclusion. Three games provides no confidence.

I've found so far seems to be visionary, tempest, and ra.

Kind of surprised that you don't like RO+MTC+UB+TK/SB, which deals 8 to BB and reduces damage dealt by 1, or does 2 others 3. Grappling Hook for the few Ongoings BB has. Replacing Visionary seems obvious. V's damage is very low and inconsistent due to being all one-shot, Mental Divergence is overkill… grappling Hook does that job. TtE is really attractive in every situation, but only 2 copies in her deck means many games end without seeing it in play.

[/quote]But from the looks of it, all three of these seem to rely on equipment and ongoings the least.[/quote]

Nope. Tachyon. Only one equipment and one Ongoing. But it's not about not having equipment in play with BB's DD. It's abotu getting it back into play after DD fires, too. One held back II can put Wraith way back ahead, after destroying everything… she only needs one desirable card in hand to play from it, the other is from deck.

Yeah, tempest kinda needs them, but he doesn't need a lot out, and he can easily recover even if they do all get blown up.

If you're lucky enough to have Cleansing Downpour come out for the destruction then, yes, but he has no deck searching to get his power out. Neither does V. Ra can search for Staff only. Wraith can search for any equipment in her deck, which means it is much easier for her to come out strong early and recover fast, compared to any of the decks you list. Tempest can recover from trash, but it takes one turn to play Reclaim from the Deep, and the next to play the card he recovered. Please note that he can reclaim Wraith's II to boost her recovery speed.

but I haven't figured out the best way to use her yet.

With Legacy and Visionary. Legacy gets her low damage up to 2 or 3, and Visionary pumps cards into trash for Lightspeed Barrage. Tachyon hits everything, and can cause them all to skip a Round of damage. Hypersonic Assault on Matriarch when she's out hard. Hit Matriarch first to shut off Mat's damage, then Domains to shut down theirs, then kill birds and take no damage for it. Voss' minions dislike her, too.

And yeah, I've gotten into the habit of having back-up modules in hand when I play AZ.

Did you do that for Wraith against BB?

Besides, that one card that lets you tutor for them also gives you an card draw and an extra play, so why not use it?

I still own the Demonic tutor I pulled out of Alpha. Save Modular Realignment, and use your Onboard Module Installations as fast as possible. They thin AZ's deck to make one-shots more common and speed delivery of Thermal Shockwave. Best played with Legacy online and many like shooting him with Ra, but he gets the most help from Visionary if she gets lucky on TtE draw, for twisting Thermal Shockwave's Fire feedback into Cold Feedback. Argent Adept helps in myriad ways, and Captain Cosmic can give him a blade when he can't use his Innate for anything. In some situations, Setback can redirect the right damage his way.

But with no one to support him, AZ is a B. Just a great deck for combos.

I didn't start using Wraith until I got the online game. I realized later I don't like a DC hero similar to her, and extended my prejudice. Once I gave her a few shots, and saw her come out strong, I realized I had never given her a fair chance. She's #1 slot in any online game I play to win right now. Deck control, deck control, deck control wins wins wins.

24

What's RO+MTC+UB+TK/SB even mean? I don't get any of your abbreviations besides V. I've never even seen any other decks outside of the original release (I don't even have the enhanced edition).

25

Razor Ordinance, Micro Targeting Computer, Utility Belt, THrowing Knives/Stun Bolt.  Still, a good reminder for us not to use abbreviations and slang when talking with folks newer to the game (I am guilty of that myself)

26

And for those of us who are very much not new to the game but have cognitive problems.

I can't work out abbreviations quickly at the best of times, especially if they haven't been written in full (or close enough to full that it's easy to recognise them). I usually don't have the mental energy necessary to do the extra mental work that "translation" requires, so I end up not understanding.

27

I'm not entirely sure the point trying to be made in that rather lengthy post (other than that it seems to be trying to compare Wraith to everyone, or at least all the heroes in the base set, for…reasons…of some kind…), but I will point out that Tachyon has three ongoings and one equipment, not one of each - her equipment being the HUD Goggles and her ongoings Research Grant, Pushing the Limits, and Synaptic…thingy…Interruption, I think (the damage redirection one) ;).

When you say "DW Visionary" I presume you actually mean Dark Visionary, who is not a member of Darkwatch (that's Setback, Fixer, Nightmist, and Expatriette…and, later in Tactics, Nightmist is being swapped for Pinion, the heroic version of the Matriarch, though that's not exactly relevant here so never mind her ;)). It's easy enough to have access to her abilities - all you need is a piece of scrap paper, a pen/pencil, and a couple of minutes to look up an image of her card online in order to copy the text ;). For Blackwolf's benefit, she has 25hp and her base power is called "Torment", which lets you look at the top two cards of any deck, then put one on the top and one on the bottom. I can't remember what her incaps are but I'm sure you can find them somewhere ;). She's pretty powerful if she has any of her other "look at the top card(s) of a deck and do stuff with them" abilities (or is used in conjunction with stuff like the Wraith's Eyepiece, or Parse's deck-messing abilities) since you still have a second chace to look at a deck if both cards are horrible - both copies of Devastating Aurora in Dawn's deck, for example (I've had it happen - I think it's worse knowing something really horrible is coming up and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it).

Anyway…as far as I'm concerned, never mind about playing a precise herop combo in the hopes of getting out an exact card (or set of cards) in order for maximum arse-kicking efficiency. Just play what's fun for you and learn your own wicked combos. If all you do is constantly compare heroes to other heroes, you'll end up neglecting those you think are "bad" just because they weren't very effective in a particular game or whatever. I'm pretty sure everyone likes some heroes more than others, but which heroes they like will vary from person to person, as will how they choose to play said heroes. The exact circumstances of every game (which decks are involved, the order in which they play, and the order in which their cards come out, amongst other things) will differ between games and if you find a hero who comes out effective in more games than others, fine. But personally I like a bit more variety and a bit more of a challenge. I mean, I've had gamse in which, as Unity, I achieved very little because I kept just getting equipment or bots, but not both and so didn't do very much except draw cards and occasinally deal some plinky damage with a one-shot. Then I've had games where Mr Chomps alone (each copy of him) was dealing about sixteen damage to the main villain and subsequently ended the game a round or two later :D.

Just do what's fun for you and don't worry about getting bogged down in trying to "calculate" which hero is best in each specific situation that comes up. It's a game, after all, and the idea behind a game is that it's fun :D.

28

Agree wholeheartedly!

29

I always associated SB with Smoke Bombs. Stun Bolt also being on The Wraith is kind of confusing as far as acronyms go.

30

I like the equipment cards, I try to play "all of them" when playing The Wraith so I can Inventory Barrage, if against Dawn or some other villains with a "That Card" I don't plan for it to destroy my stuff, I try to plan to destroy my stuff before she does! (usually I mess it up and get good damage but spend a few turns with less damage output than other heroes before That Card comes along again and levels the playing field).

31

All of them.

32

You've discovered reason #329 to avoid acronyms entirely and just write things out! An acronym doesn't really save that much typing, and it ends up adding confusion. I encounter this issue at my workplace all the time…

33

 

As many have already stated equipment heavy heroes can still be played but you have to adjust your play to fit what just happened…much like any TCG or LCG.  Also when you get other expacs you find villians won't just be like "Hey I see you have stuff…'boom'…now you don't."

Use equipment on AZ, Bunker, Wraith, or whoever you're playing and try to pump damage as much as you can before you have to rebuild or rework your strat.